Location and hours of operation

History

According to records, on 11 September 1878 a reserve was appointed for Cabarlah cemetery, also known as Geham Cemetery. On 2 January 1880 the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, appointed Duncan Munro, Louis Robinson, Thomas Bowden, Michael Tansey, Joesph Kahler and Thomas Walls as Trustees of Cemetery Reserve at Geham.

Records show the first burials occurred in 1881. One of these was Thomas John, son of John Munro and Elizabeth Adams. Thomas was born on 26 July 1880 and died 7 March 1881.

Location and hours of operation

History

The cemetery is separated into sections for Roman Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian religions, plus a non-denominational area.

The first known burial occurred in 1927. As cemetery records prior to the 1950s were poor, the many unmarked graves that exist within the cemetery suggests that burials may have occurred earlier than 1927.

In 2000, a columbarium was established and is the most recent addition to the site.

Location and hours of operation

History

The historical Cecil Plains cemetery dates back to 1873.

Boards that provide the details of people buried within the cemetery and how they died have been placed around a large tree located within the cemetery. This tree is known as the honour tree. Many people buried in the cemetery drowned attempting to cross the Condamine River when it was in flood.

Location and hours of operation

History

Clifton Council records date from 1882, although there would have been burials prior to this date. The first funeral handled by Council was on 7 August 1941 for Mrs A Donovan. The cemetery is on a 4.047 hectare parcel of land fronting Cemetery Road. The pioneer headstones of various shapes, sizes and materials are interspersed with more recent monuments.

Location and hours of operation

History

The Cooyar cemetery is located off Cooyar-Mt Binga Road, Cooyar. Records show that Cooyar cemetery was allocated and reserved for a cemetery on 18 June 1908. It was also allocated for a police paddock.

The earliest identified grave is 1928 but other unmarked graves have been found that may pre-date this.

Location and hours of operation

History

Within a period of ten years, three cemeteries were surveyed for Crows Nest. The first surveyed cemetery was located on Church grounds. Unfortunately, the number of burials at this location remains unknown. Trustees for the third cemetery were not appointed until 1891. The first recorded burial was in 1892, when little Edith Helsham was interred. The Trustees were responsible for the control of the Crows Nest cemetery until 1936, when it became a council controlled cemetery. The camphor laurel trees were planted in 1906 to provide shade for the mourners.

Location and hours of operation

History

In 1886 a letter sent to the Government requested 10 acres be reserved beside the Gomoran (Douglas) School reserve. On 21 December 1886 a public cemetery was gazetted and given the Reserve Number 114 and Cemetery Number 177. Secretary for the cemetery trustees WE Wilcox sent a letter to the Department of Lands dated 10 February 1896 requesting for the cemetery grounds to be called Gomoran. This was granted on the 17 February 1896.

In a report by the Assistant and Ranger to the Toowoomba Land Commissioner in September 1953, it was noted that the reserve was reported to consist of 10 acres and slopes from a hill on the eastern boundary. The soil was reported as being brown clayey loam and half the grounds had iron bark, sugar gum, gum top box and heavy wattle undergrowth. The part of the cemetery used for burials was heavy with Rhodes grass. The only noxious weed reported on the reserve was scattered pear heavily infected with cactoblastis. Within this report was a list of improvements, which consisted of fencing, a shed and iron gates.The entire 10 acre boundary was fenced, as was the northern side (Lutheran Section) and the southern side (Catholic Section). It was believed that a parking area existed in between. The shed, which has since been removed, was in the Lutheran section of the grounds and the box toilet was in the parking area.You can still see the double gate entry with a prickly pear growing through it, where the public would have driven to access the parking area.

Location and hours of operation

History

In 1914 the cemetery trustees agreed upon dividing the grounds into the following religious denominations:

Church of England

Roman Catholic

Lutheran

Presbyterian

Methodist

Baptist

The remaining part of the burial ground was for all others.

In 1982 Crows Nest Shire Council was appointed trustee of the cemetery reserve. Since the 2008 local government reforms, Toowoomba Regional Council now continues to provide local residents with a high level of service.

Interment Options

History

In 1864 a Deed of Grant in Trust was issued over an area of two acres (0.8094ha) to the Trustees of the Church of England for a Toowoomba cemetery. A later deed, issued in 1867, expanded this to eight acres (3.2 ha) and extended the trusteeship to various religious denominations. The dimensions of today’s cemetery were laid down in 1882 when an area of 67 acres (27.11 ha) was gazetted for the Drayton & Toowoomba cemetery. Control of the cemetery was passed from the Trust to Toowoomba City Council in 1974. Since the 2008 local government reforms, we continue to provide residents with a high level of service.

Since the first registered burial in 1866, the Drayton & Toowoomba cemetery has been an integral part of Toowoomba’s history. It contains the graves of pioneers, previous Mayors and other prominent people who shaped our local history. A walk through various sections gives you insight into the way people lived in different eras, the hardship they faced, their life expectancy and even prevalent diseases at the time. In 2009 the Drayton & Toowoomba Cemetery was listed in the Queensland Heritage Register.

We maintain the cemetery to ensure the grounds are beautifully presented and interments are respectfully performed.

Notable interments

Webb, Emma

Section CE1, Block 3, Allotment 45

In 1893, the first appendectomy in Australia was performed on Emma Webb on the kitchen table in her residence at the rear of her husband’s bakery on the corner of Ruthven and Piper Streets. She recovered well from her ordeal and went on to outlive her doctors. The main building of the Toowoomba Hospital is named in her honour and features an informative display about her procedure and its historic significance.

Dent, Josiah

Section CE 13-18 Block 15 Allotment 37

Josiah Dent was probably the first European to live in "The Swamp," later to be known as Toowoomba. He was found living in a tent where the entry to the Myer store is today. After his marriage he built a house near the present CWA Rooms in Margaret Street. His daughter Pamela was the first female child christened in Toowoomba.

Evans, George Essex

Section CE 19-24 Block 19 Allotment

In 1903 the poet George Essex Evans was the driving force behind the formation of Toowoomba’s Austral Society. His poems ‘The Women of the West’ and ‘The Nation Builders’ were well known to Queensland school children who learnt them from their reading books. Essex Evans died in 1909 at the age of only 46 and this "life cut short" is commemorated in the broken column design of his headstone.

Groom, William Henry

Section Old CE Block R3 Allotment 5

William Henry Groom arrived in Australia in 1849 as a boy of 16 years, convicted of stealing in England three years previously. He became an auctioneer in 1858. Over the next 43 years he became respected and influential in Toowoomba and could be named the father of Toowoomba. He was Toowoomba’s first mayor elected in 1861. He led his council acquiring land for the town hall and funds for the establishment of the General Hospital and Willowburn Hospital, now Baillie Henderson. He died of a combination of ‘bronchial catarrh’ and heart failure on 8th August 1901.

Robinson, Nell Elizabeth

Section Old CE 1 Block R1 Allotment 15

Nell was the first woman mayor in Queensland after her election in April 1967 and held the position for almost 15 years. Nell studied dramatic art in London then returned home to help in the War effort, later teaching at Fairholme. She was awarded an OBE in 1979.

Beit, William

Section Old CE 2 Block R1 Allotment 8

William Beit married Mary Kellett and to mark the occasion they resolved to build a homestead. John McLean (Colonial Treasurer of Queensland) and William Beit bought the land in 1853, on which Westbrook Homestead was eventually built a kilometre from the main Pittsworth highway just beyond Westbrook Creek.

Trevethan, Thomas

Section BAP1 Block 5 Allotment 67

Thomas Trevethan was born in Cornwall, England and died 21st September, 1891 aged 47 years. He was a coachbuilder, Alderman and became Mayor in 1888. Thomas Trevethan junior, with his uncle Walter, built the first Queensland car in their Neil Street factory in 1902. It was a single-cylinder 6hp Dion engine buggy.

Spiro, Henry

Section Jewish Row 3

Henry Spiro, the only German/Jewish speaking Mayor of Toowoomba was elected in 1873 and died on 10th December 1876, aged 36 years and two months. He was instrumental in building the first Jewish Synagogue in Toowoomba situated in Neil Street. His monument is inscribed in Hebrew and English.

Gentle, William

Section Old RC2 Block R1 Allotment 24

The brothers William and Peter Gentle were Toowoomba hoteliers. Peter’s hotel, The Horse and Jockey, is now known as the Shamrock. William owned land where the present Gentle Street is located.

Perkins, Thomas

Section Old RC 2 Block R4 Allotment 4

In 1869 the brothers Patrick and Thomas Perkins constructed a large brewery in Margaret Street now occupied by Grand Central Shopping Centre, then one of the largest in the southern hemisphere. It produced more than 25,000 gallons of XXX beer per week. Thomas died on the 10th August 1876 from injuries accidentally received at the age of 35.

Tolmie, James

Section Pres 1 Block 4 Allotment 42

James was a part owner of the Darling Downs Gazette and also a parliamentarian. His sister, Helen (Ella) Tolmie was the first probationer engaged at the Toowoomba General Hospital was said to have assisted at Emma Webb’s appendectomy. She was appointed to matron of the General Hospital in 1897.

Nelson, Sir Hugh

Section Pres 1 Block 7 Allotment 35

Sir Hugh Nelson was the President of Legislative Council, Lieutenant Governor of Queensland, Queensland Treasurer and State Premier. Sir Hugh Nelson lived at historic Gabbinbar, which was built in 1863. Gabbinbar is situated at the South end of Ramsay Street. Sir Hugh Nelson’s father was the Rev. William Lambie Nelson, the first minister of St. Stephens, Presbyterian Church.

Devine, John and Sarah

Section Pres 1 Block 11 Allotment 3

John, Sarah and their three children arrived in Brisbane on the ‘Lady Douglas’ in June 1874. John Devine and his wife Sarah farmed in the Vale View area south of Toowoomba until he became Sexton of the Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery in 1875 on 1st March. This began 86 years of continuous service by three generations of Devines to the cemetery. Mrs. Davison (nee Devine) pointed out that John’s surname was originally Diffin but on leaving the ship, which brought them from Ireland, his surname had changed from Diffin to Devine. No apparent reason is known for this but Mrs. Davison mused that it may have been on account of pronouncing the name ‘Diffin’ as ‘Devine’.

Pigott, Michael Daniel

Section RC 4 Block 1 Allotment 22

Michael was the founder of Pigott and Co. and established a retailing business in Toowoomba after he broke away from his Brisbane partner Bierne.

McKinney, John

Section RC 4 Block 1 Allotment 22

John McKinney left Ireland in 1881 at the age of 19, for Australia. In 1885 he established the House of McKinney that began as a tobacconist and hairdresser at the top end of Ruthven Street. Even over the war years the business grew. By 1927 John McKinney passed the reins over to his son. Toowoomba’s store used to extend from Ruthven Street over Duggan Street to Victoria Street.

Location and hours of operation

History

The original location of the Goombungee cemetery is different to where it is today. The first reserve was cancelled because it was impossible to sink a grave and a new site was chosen on the south-east corner of Portion 50V, Parish of Goombungee. On 17 January 1894 a new 6.2 acre cemetery reserve was proclaimed, which was placed in the Government Gazette on 3 February 1894. The first burial took place on 23 July 1894 in the name of Edith Annie Lloyd, aged 10 months.

The name Goombungee-Haden was first recorded in correspondence in 1925, but the grounds have always been officially known as Goombungee Cemetery Reserve until the Committee became incorporated. The Cemetery was handed over to Council in 2008.

In 1990, Sid and John Newton built a brick memorial wall to house 8 urns.

Location and hours of operation

History

The Greenmount cemetery is located between Greenmount and East Greenmount. It covers an area of 1.59 ha, on reserve No 434. Control of the cemetery has been by local authority, predominately by the former Cambooya Shire Council. The first recorded burial was Harrison Harry Beck, a seven and half year-old boy who died on 3 August 1884 from a fall from a tree. He was buried the following day. As at 1 July 2010, 214 burials have taken place at the cemetery.

Location and hours of operation

History

Records obtained from headstones show that the first burial occurred in 1901, with the last burial being performed in 1969. As the ground in the cemetery is extremely hard, it was decided that it should no longer be operational. Another factor supporting this decision was the uncertainty of the exact location of the unmarked graves in the area.

Location and hours of operation

History

The first known burial in the Millmerran cemetery occurred in February 1903. However, burials prior to this are possible as many unmarked graves exist within the cemetery. The headstone sections of the cemetery were segregated until 1979 when the lawn cemetery was established. A rose garden was established in 2003 and has proved to be very popular.

Location and hours of operation

History

The area was originally taken up as part of Clifton Station and by 1870 the land was being resumed and subdivided for closer settlement. The township of Nobby developed after the coming of the railway in 1869 and the cemetery was gazetted soon after.

The remains of several well known people are interred in this cemetery including Sister Kenny and Victor Denton. Victor Denton’s headstone was the first heritage listed War Memorial erected in Queensland.

The cemetery is situated on a slight rise above Mt Kent 2 kms west of Nobby. The headstones range from ground plaques to large ornate sandstone columns. The cemetery contains memorials that date back to the earliest settlers in the district.

On 16 November 1945 the Clifton Shire Council was appointed the Trustee of the Reserve for Nobby Cemetery.

Location and hours of operation

History

On 1 September 1910 the Minister for Public Lands and Irrigation gave the direction to the Land Agents District, Parish of Cooyar to issue 10 acres of land for the use of Yarraman Creek cemetery. Within that area, about one acre and twenty three perches was surveyed off as actual cemetery reserve. This site is on Yarraman-Kooralgin Road, Yarraman.

The cemetery, at that time was managed by a trust of five local, pioneering gentlemen. However, two of these gentlemen passed away and the remaining three resigned from that trust. In April 1935 it pleased His Excellency the Governor to appoint the Council of the Shire of Rosalie to be trustee of the reserve for the Yarraman Creek cemetery.

In 1989 a Yarraman cemetery improvement committee was formed and was part of the initiation of the lawn section within the cemetery. The columbarium was erected as a memorial to the wife of a well known local resident at a cost to himself.